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Tag Archives: weight watchers

Way back when I could run, Alison, who I ran the Gosport Golden Mile with, told me about a special offer Hampshire County Council were offering. If you have a BMI of over 30 they would give you 3 months free Weight Watchers membership.

I’ve contemplated trying Weight Watchers and Slimming World before but the membership prices have always put me off. I always think to myself “I know what to do. I can do it for free” Truth is, I can’t! So I googled Hampshire Council Weight Watchers and was sent straight to the correct page.

I filled in the information and found out my BMI. I know I’m overweight, truth be told I know I’m obese but somehow seeing my BMI was 40 was still a bit of a shock. I don’t know why though, as I don’t know what it was before! Anyway I submitted my information and expected to find something out immediately. However, you have to wait for a letter to arrive with more information on.

A couple of days later I got my letter through telling me I had qualified and that they had booked me in to a class. I was a bit panicked by this as the class wasn’t the closest to me and it was on a Wednesday at 10am, when I’m at work. I gave them a call and was told that I could actually attend any class, so that was a relief. I found a class 0.3 miles away at 7pm on a Thursday. Much more suitable!

I eagerly awaited Thursday, then had to wait a whole other week until the following Thursday as I’d forgotten there was a staff meeting after work. Grr! I got dropped off at the class and felt nervous. I didn’t know what to expect. I got there and everyone was queuing so being British, I joined the queue, not evening knowing what I was queueing for! Turns out we were queuing for the class to open. You join the queue then as you file in, you’re weighed one by one.

One of the people helping there saw me holding my letter from the Council/Weight Watchers and asked me to come forward to fill in a registration form. I was then weighed (I’m sorry I’m not brave enough to post my starting weight yet) and told how many points I was going to be allowed each day and how many extra points I got as spares to be used through the week. I’ve been given 30 points a day and 42 extra points.

I stayed for the meeting after the weigh in which actually felt really awkward. There was only 6 of us there and 3 of the 6 were first timers! The leader, Claire, asked questions and it was like pulling teeth getting answers. It did get easier though the longer we were there, people warmed up and offered more answers. She also gave tips on how to survive summer events e.g. a wedding or a BBQ with friends.

At the end, Claire asked us newbies to stay behind as she’d show us some information videos and tell us about her personal journey. The was a bit surprised by her “weight loss journey” for some reason I expected the leaders to have all being attending Weight Watchers for years and having lost at least 5 stone. Claire joined about 6 months ago and has lost nearly a stone with 5lb still to go.

So how have I been finding it? I’ve been doing it since Thursday and it seems ok so far. I need to take my own lunch to work as eating at the work “salad bar” isn’t going to cut it. Everything is covered in mayo or just not actually healthy or salad!

What I am struggling to get my head round is the point system. Not the counting points, that bit is easy thanks to the app (which is very similar to MyFitnessPal) but the way they work. I always thought overnight oats were a healthy breakfast. They’re 5 points. If I want to add yoghurt to them then that’s free so long as its fat free and flavourless. So I added a muller light fat free vanilla yoghurt which is actually less calories than the fat free plain yoghurt. That takes it up to 8 points. However, I can cook a full English and that’s only 5 points?! So what they’re telling me is sausage, eggs, bacon and beans are healthier than oats and a fat free yoghurt?! Maybe I shouldn’t question it? It’s proven with all the success stories that Weight Watchers works as long as you stick to your points. It’s just a bit baffling when I’m used to counting calories. But maybe calories isn’t what it’s all about anymore? The points in a food are calculated using calories, sugar, saturated fats and protein. Which seems to be a more holistic way of looking at food. I don’t know, but as long as it works!

Have you ever used a weight loss programme before? Were you successful?